Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
 | |
| Type: | Economic Forum |
| Founded: | 1989 |
| Headquarters: | Singapore |
| Country: | Singapore |
| Website: | www.apec.org |
| Key People | |
| Ambassador Muhamad Noor Yacob, Executive Director | |
APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) is a ministerial forum which supports economic growth and prosperity in the Asia Pacific Region by promoting free trade and economic cooperation among its member economies. Ambassador Muhamad Noor Yacob is the current Executive Director of APEC and its Secretariat is located in Singapore.[1]
History
Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke advocated the establishment of a new intergovernmental regional cooperation during his speech in Seoul, Korea on January 1989. He proposed that the new intergovernmental regional organization will focus on the common economic interests, social issues and to increase the trade and investments within the Asia Pacific Region. The regional response to Hawke's proposal was positive, some has reservations. An extreme consultation within the region was conducted by Australian officials which was led by former Australian Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Richard Woolcot, who was appointed as special envoy of Prime Minister Hawke. APEC was founded during the first Ministerial Meeting which was held in Canberra, Australia on November 5-7 1989. The meeting was chaired by Australian Forein Minister Gareth Evans.[2] The 12 founding members of APEC include: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. [3] The founding members agreed that an open multilateral trading system is significant to attain a rapid regional economic growth and to concentrate their cooperation in the areas of investment, technology transfer and in areas related to human resources development.[4]
Main Goal
The primary objective of APEC was identified during the Bogor Meeting in Indonesia in 1994 known as the Bogor Goals which include: free and open trade investment in the Asia Pacific Region by 2010 for industrialized countries while the developing countries target year will be on 2020. [5]
Scope of Work
The APEC member economies are focused on achieving their declared goals by working on its three pillars or the key areas of their cooperation which include:[6]
- Trade and Investment Liberalisation
- Business Facilitation
- Economic and Technical Cooperation